Florentino Fardo
Florentino Fardo y Xia I Florentino Fardo was the first Fardhine emperor and the founder of the Fardhine Empire. He was also a Lorekeeper for Galda in his youth. Appearance Youth As a teenager, Florentino was tan and had black hair. He wore a crew cut and usually had a dark red hoodie. His school uniform consists of a blue polo and khaki pants, however has green skinny jeans and a different blue polo as casual attire. He has naturally brown eyes. He is also tall and skinny. Lorekeeper As a Lorekeeper for Garrun, Florentino's right eye glowed yellow. He had also built up more muscle and had bigger eyebags. He usually wears a dirty gray cloak on top of whatever he is wearing. Weapons Manufacturer As the CEO of Armas Fardo, Florentino is taller and leaner; and he hides his yellow right eye under a contact lens. He typically wears a business suit, has a kempt goatee and combed black hair. Emperor of Fardhin As the emperor, Florentino typically wears golden glasses and a Barong Tagalog with a purple collar. His combed hair and neat goatee have turned gray, and now has wrinkles on his face. He usually has a red cape with a white stripe in the center and a black sun on it. The end of the cape has a yellow and purple alternating pattern of triangles. He typically wears black pants and shoes. Personality Florentino is typically quiet, and tends to be shy. He is incredibly smart, and usually thinks to himself even when surrounded by people. He has very few friends, and is usually lonely. However, he is also known to have a temper; and can lash out with anger violently. He is also a bit sadistic, enjoying watching enemies in pain; most likely caused by trauma experiencing the dangers of his former duty as Lorekeeper. He is charismatic, but tends to be cunning and deceitful. He is very affectionate and loving towards his family, and respectful to others. Abilities Florentino is incredibly smart, with a genius IQ; and is well-known for this. Fateless As a Fateless Lorekeeper, Florentino has limited magic capabilities; utilizing a yellow flame instead of blue. He is naturally weak, but however displays the ability to absorb the essence of others and make himself stronger. His eye enables him to see the paths of magic and sense power. Interloper As the Fateless Interloper, Florentino had stolen the Blue Flame of Edun; gaining near omnipotence. It is unknown what the limits are to what he can do, though it appears that he loses this power slowly over time. He has used this ability to change time and space once, in order to avert Irene's future death at the hands of the Hunters. Emperador By the time Florentino is Emperor, he rarely uses his powers; mostly in order to conserve it. He uses his Empire to find people gifted with abilities to take their power for himself. Plot Background Florentino was born a Principales, a Philippine nobleman; and a Moro Prince, but was baptized Catholic. He studied in the Ateneo and was friends with Irene and Rio. He is typically a loner, despite having the highest grades. He was usually very weak and sickly, due to his status as a Fateless. Lorekeeper One day in the year 2077, he awakens in another World called Renas. He meets an old man with a glowing yellow eye who has been stabbed and fell from a tall structure, and attempts to help him. The man, a Rokeva; instead stabbed his eye with his finger, which had a metal finger armor ring. He struggles for a while as the man speaks in different languages at the same time, uttering "With the Eye of God, you shall find yourself in worlds unknown." before he awakens in class. He is at first relieved to find it was a dream, but notices his eye bleeding; and rushing to the Comfort Room, washes it and finds that it has turned yellow and is glowing. In the following period, the doctors are unable to explain anything; and his friends and family try to comfort him. In a later night, upon going to sleep; he awakens in a cave with several things that help indicate that something is different. He finds that he is able to understand all languages through a text he found in a nearby table, and sees a book called the Enobris. Looking outside, he sees the old man who attacked him; trodding in snow following a path of blood. He is then attacked by a pack of unknown figures, the Hunters, whom he all kills save for Sekoth who kills him. Sekoth then attacks Florentino, and as he is about to carve out his yellow eye; Gibris intervenes and knocks out Sekoth. Florentino is then brought back to Earth, as he awakens in his bed. He once more encounters Gibris in a restaurant, confronting him to confirm if what he saw was real. Gibris in turn brings him to a market in Renas, and explains his role as a Rokeva or Lorekeeper; and also confirms Gibris's status as a god. Upon returning to the restaurant, Florentino goes home immediately; leaving his friends Irene and Rio, both noting how he is growing distant. Florentino tried his best to stay awake, but sleeps anyways; and awakens in Galda, experiencing heavenly bliss. He is met by Gibris, who takes him to the Hill of Edun in order to vouch for him in his trial. It is discovered that by intervening, Gibris had broken the laws of Galda. It is also here that the Seven Galdarim are introduced. After the trial, Mikris takes Florentino to a lake; and tells him of Saracul Darak, narrating his betrayal and portraying him as a sort of fallen god or devil figure. He also teaches Florentino how to use the Flame, which weakened him to a great extent. Florentino awakens in th middle of the night, and notes that he can see the flow and path of magic; and sense power and such with enhanced senses brought about by his yellow eye. He contemplates on his mortality, knowing that everyone has a blue essence while his is yellow. Over the following years, he uncovers conspiracies and learns as much as he can in Renas; even discovering the Order of the Blue Flame of Saracul Darak and the Luzterrian Emperor's involvement in it. In the real world however, he grows increasingly distant with his friends and family, and begins to suffer in academics. He is also noted to have been building up muscle. It is to be noted, that Rio had once caught Florentino using the Flame in an alleyway, thinking nobody was there. Rio kept it a secret, and did not tell anybody. One rainy afternoon, he noticed that Irene has been acting cold towards him; and confronts her later on the sidewalk. Irene tells him that he no longer knows him anymore, feeling that Florentino doesn't want her as a part of his life anymore. In reply, Florentino confesses his feelings for her; but she leaves him in the rain. Rio notices henceforth the growing distance between them, and urges Irene to confront Florentino; telling her about what he witnessed Florentino doing with fire. Irene does so, but they are both attacked by Hunters who used a ritual to follow Florentino to Earth. In an effort to protect Irene, Florentino discovers that he has the ability to absorb the power of the Blue Flame, and taking power from the Enobris, slaughters most of the Hunters including the Huntmaster. Sekoth however survives as Florentino's power runs out, and kills Irene. In a furious rage, Florentino used the remaining power he had to continuously burn Sekoth in a flurry of attacks. Again, Sekoth survives and escaped back to Renas; but is left forever scarred, blind and burnt. He is then noted to resemble a humanoid naked molerat with white eyes. Refusing to cope with her death in the real world, he goes to sleep and stays in Renas for several months, keeping himself awake with magic and medicine; which in the real world appears that he is in a comatose. Screlden is forced to intervene, breaking into Florentino's wood hut in the forest and forcing him to sleep. Florentino awakens from his coma in the real world, and slowly regains his senses; and begins to formulate plans of vengeance. Upon returning to Renas, he creates homemade bombs with materials he finds in nature and trade, then destroys centuries-old monuments, statues, walls and other buildings in Reximas. Then, he breaks into the Imperial Palace; slaughtering everyone until he reached the Grenasthein and the emperor. Sekoth escapes, but he is able to kill the Grenasthein. Emperor Theron however, proposes a deal. Theron tells him that the Galdarim are lying to him, and that they do not need a Fateless Rokeva to document history at all; as they are gods. He also tells him that they wish Florentino and other Fateless dead, as they are beyond the control and knowledge of Galda, being too dangerous to live. So they are lied to, being told to become Rokeva in dangerous locations to die in missions assigned by Galdarim. Theron proposes that Florentino go to Galda, and confront the Creator Edun, and from there on steal the Blue Flame of Edun, and use that to avert Irene's death. Florentino let's Theron live, and goes to Galda; where he demands to meet with the creator, stating that he knows their lies. Edun meets with Florentino, telling him of the Fateless Interloper, a feared entity of the future that was unknown and would steal the Eternal Flame. Florentino steals the Flame, destroying Galda and being proclaimed ten Fateless Interloper. He then reverses time, and averts Irene's death. God With the power of Edun, Florentino was practically a god. However, he cares little of that and only wanted to live his life. He however used his power more than once to alter Theron's life, marrying his love interest to his rival and cursing his son to be the prophesied evil figure known as the Forsimia. He also used his powers when courting Irene, and also used it to shape his surrounding world to his benefit. CEO of Armas Fardo As CEO of the weapons company Armas Fardo, Florentino used his powers to create the best weapons within little amounts of time; and improve the lives of himself and his family. His friend Rio had even become leader of the country through Florentino's manipulation. However, one night; Screlden confronts Florentino, killing Irene. Florentino would try to bring her back to life, but Screlden warns that his power is fading and leaking into his surroundings. Once he is weak enough, the Galdarim will revive Edun and kill Florentino and the rest of his family and destroy everything he has ever built. Florentino however, does everything in his power to preserve his powers. He uses his powers much less, and absorbs the essence of many creatures, effectively killing them. However, he soon discovers that the power that leaked from himself had leaked into newborn children. Beginning from the very day he stole the power of Edun, children with the power of the Flame were being born. Justifying their deaths with the idea that he will bring them back to life when he regains his full power, he asks for Rio's help to harvest the power of these people, some of whom had already grown. However, Rio refused; revealing that he has been working with the Galdarim for a while. In anger, Florentino fosters a rebellion movement; providing arms and funds, in order to overthrow Rio Salvacion's government. He succeeds only much later, in his senior years. Dictator As Dictator of the Philippines, Florentino did his best to be a good leader; in order to be able to harvest power without notice. He began to call the essence of the Flame, "Edunite" in order to avoid suspicion in certain documents. In ten years, he put on a guide of a great leader; while secretly harvesting Edunite for himself from people. Eventually, the Edunite levels of the Philippines were depleted however. Emperor of Fardhin Florentino decided to create an Empire to expand his authority in order to harvest more Edunite, and founded Fardhin, named after himself. With his own weapons and warships, the Fardhine military was built up to become a force to be meddled with. As a leader, Florentino raised cultural and historical awareness of the importance of a region's cultural past. This has helped the country re-embrace their roots rather than rely on the culture of the West. Florentino's cultural, economic, international, technological, military, and social policies have helped the country get back on its feet to become an Empire. And through conquest, it has helped others do the same. As the emperor, Florentino wields not only divine right but absolute political power as well. This is shown in his ability to condemn noble families and redistribute their fortune when they have abused their power and fortune. Though unfortibately this has gained him an amount of foreign criticism, claiming he only does this to deter political rivals; which all Fardhine sources claim is an utter pile of lies. Before and after Fardhin, during Florentine rule; the massive Fardhine Military was built, and eventually reached an impressive number of near 6 million. As a conqueror, Florentine rule saw the invasion of Malaysia ended swiftly with orbital bombardment, precision military strikes, a massive invasion; and the Malaysian King bowing before Florentino upon surrender. In the conquest of Indonesia, Florentino sought help from a mutual friend in Yogyakarta; and weakened the country enough from the inside for an easy invasion with minimal losses on either side. In the end, the High King of Indonesia was crowned in Yogyakarta and he bowed before Florentino. During a diplomatic visit in Singapore, Florentino brought the Fleet with him; and after a brief discussion with its leader, Singapore became a part of Fardhin without a fight. A month later, Florentino would receive a surprise letter from the Royal Family of Thailand to visit the country with his family. There, Florentino's granddaughter found love with a Thai Prince as the Royal House of Chakri in Thailand became an Imperial House of Fardhin alongside Fardo, Velez, Fajardo, Ferdinando and Fernando. Along with It, Thailand was unified with Fardhin. Some time later, along with upgraded Maharlika and Pana class warships; Florentino would commission several new weapons for Fardhin. These included the 3AT Battle Mech, and later on the 4AT; as well as the Agila Space Jet; But most importantly the Bakunawa Project. The Throne of Aries was a massive warship, capable of carrying Maharlika and Pana class, therefore being able to carry an entire fleet. It had a unique weapons system called the Marcos Cannons, which essentially was a laser with the blast power of a nuke and much less radiation; thus being a clean weapon. Denouncing his former rulers, Florentino would come into odds with the Pan-Asiatic States. It would begin with public accusations, blaming Florentino for the disappearance of several children as well as being an aggressive imperialist in an age where imperialism had died. Eventually, it would come into knowledge that Rio Salvacion was hiding in PAS China, and influencing politics. Enough was enough, and Fardhin went to war. Employing the Florentine Fleet with the Throne of Aries as Florentino's Throneship; the PAS Naval force was easily dealt with. The TOA and the fleet, alongside with a massive land force was able to commence invasions and fully annex Hainan and Guangdong with ease. The Fardhine Military was near unstoppable, until 2158. When the Florentine Fleet approached the Coast of Zhejiang and Fujian; a mysterious blue light engulfed the entire fleet, with Florentino himself in It, and all the systems inside began to fail as everything fell into the ocean. There has been no contact with Florentino since, and he is believed to be dead. The blue light was caused by Edun, who had been revived by the Galdarim. However, he had lived through a mixture of magic and science. His body is preserved in a tank of Edunite, surrounded by machines and computers that work to keep him alive. He stays in touch with the outside world through sleeves. Relationships Irene Fardo Florentino was great friends with Irene Saavedra, meeting her when they were classmates. He was in love with her, and eventually married her. They have 4 children, and Florentino is very loving towards her. Rio Salvacion Rio was Florentino's best friend for a while, until Rio decided to side with the Galdarim against Florentino. Despite this, he still has astounding respect for the man. Florentino Fardo II Nicknamed "Flo", Florentino Fardo II is Florentino I's eldest son. Flo is an underachiever, believing his is not loved by his father an always seeking to impress him. Juanita Velez Juanita is Florentino's eldest daughter and second child. She is a high achiever, having a similarly high IQ and many athletic and leadership achievements. She is Florentino's favorite child and named heir to the throne. Juan Patricio Velez Juan Patricio is Florentino's son in law. Tall and well-built, Florentino is easily intimidated by Juan Patricio. He is also extremely impressed by the man, who is a military officer. He is also Florentino's Grand Admiral. Trivia Florentino is based on Virgil "Verge" Fajardo, a character created by the same author.